


i know ( you know )

by lifeincantos



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: More characters to be added, Multi, back at it again with the obscure crossovers apparently, ensemble heavy, psych!AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 18:21:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6294838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifeincantos/pseuds/lifeincantos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You found them at an active crime scene.”</p><p>“We did.”</p><p>“And instead of arresting them, you – took their advice and apprehended someone who wasn't in our suspect pool to begin with?” </p><p>In which no one tells the truth, a recently -- failing police precinct is simultaneously saved and torn apart by amateurs, and everyone walks away questioning their life choices. Still, if they can get their act together, this might just be the shot in the arm that Karasuno needs to clean up its faltering reputation and start doing some good again. </p><p>also known as: the Psych AU that no one needed</p>
            </blockquote>





	i know ( you know )

“So. Let me run through this again, alright?”

“Sure.”

“You found them at an active crime scene.”

“We did.”

“Beyond the barricade.”

“Yes.”

“Without any identification or credentials.”

“Yes.”

“And instead of arresting them, you – took their advice and apprehended someone who wasn't in our suspect pool to begin with?”

Despite the fact that the Captain's voice has remained consistently even throughout, without a single break or flicker of emotion (and marred by only _one_ pause, flickeringly brief), the last question sees Sugawara wilt. Visible only if you know where to look, of course, but the moment the accusation leaves the other's lips a startled tenseness grips his back for a moment before his shoulders drop.

“The evidence was obtained legally,” he replies, voice quieter but no less determined than it had been just moments before. “It was enough to get us a warrant – it's probably enough to convict.”

“Don't speculate,” the Captain replies, but it's rote and perfunctory, distant for its practiced nature.

“The information was good. _They_ were good.” There is something heavy beneath the gentle placement of each word. At the sound, the Captain's head lifts from where it had been resting against the length of his palm, ring finger pressed against the bridge of his nose and thumb rubbing against his temple.

“And what do we know about _good_ things?”

The Captain's expression darkens as he speaks, but so does Sugawara's and it's the former's turn to tense – a motion that only tangentially manifests in the physical, seen in just a widening of his eyes and minute parting of his lips. For a few moments their gazes are locked, Sugawara's hard edged look firmly meeting the Captain's steady, unyielding scrutiny without flinching. The moment is broken when the Captain huffs a sigh and reaches out to wave his hand a gesture that clearly reads _continue_.

Sugawara nods, but still pauses to draw a steadying breath and straighten his spine before he proceeds. “I understand the implications. I know that information too good to be true usually is. But I made the choice that I felt was best, and I don't regret that choice.”

Something in the Captain's face morphs, largely defying description. His eyes darken a little, chin tilting down as he surveys the other. For his part, Sugawara maintains every ounce of composure, standing tall and refusing to look anywhere but the Captain's eyes. From his periphery, Sugawara can see the form of a figure that can only be Tanaka. Only he would stick this close – and consider the sparse fern outside the office a good place to hide. He smooths the smile that threatens to tug at the corner of his lips, and when he sees the Captain fight the same battle, he knows he's won.

“ – Alright, alright.” The Captain scrubs a hand over his face, and Sugawara manages to keep that grin from blossoming properly. “I suppose that's why you're here, right?”

“That's right,” Sugawara replies evenly, chest swelling a little. That's all it takes for the pair of them to share a furtive glance and allow their smiles to finally emerge. From a distance, muffled by glass, Sugawara can hear the sound of Tanaka's _yes_ , which he bothers in no way to conceal. The Captain's brow twitches, and Sugawara neatly covers his mouth with his hand at the reprimand that follows.

“Oi! Detectives cowardly enough to throw their partner to the wolves shouldn't celebrate.”

Any noise from beyond the office quiets immediately; it's not what happened in the slightest and all three of them are aware of that fact, but logic has very little power under the weight of Captain Sawamura's _aura_. Still, the figure stays put where he is, and Sugawara can feel the silent support radiating from the other side of the window.

The Captain pushes out his chair and stands, crossing over to that window and rapping one knuckle on it. Sugawara sees the figure beyond flinch hard enough to very nearly fall on his ass. The moment he looks, Sawamura nods his head towards the interior of the office. By the Tanaka enters (scrambling at first, but walking through with at least a modicum of dignity), Sawamura is leaning against the front of his desk, arms crossed protectively against his chest.

“Look – I'm not opposed to the... unorthodox. If you say you trust them, I'll give them a chance.”

Tanaka is too newly entered to look as excited as he does, but he opens his mouth to reply regardless. Sawamura holds up a hand to preemptively cut off whatever he might have said.

“But the law stands. They had no authority to cross the barricade, and even if they didn't touch anything we can't present evidence that's been tampered with. – I'm not trying to be cruel.”

Sugawara hadn't realized that his gaze had steadily lowered, in the barest increments, until it snaps back up to attention, eyes searching the Captain's face. Beside him, he feels the tension in Takana's frame evaporate, all in one fell swoop.

“Captain, we don't – ”

“No, no,” Sawamura gently curtails the protest, voice dipping low and losing the edge of authority that reinforces every word. “I just want to explain myself, here. We're doing this to help people. If one misstep or mistake costs the arrest or the case – that's one more person who gets away with what they've done. One more person who gets to keep _doing_ it.”

“I thought you said not to speculate,” Sugawara reminds him, tone pointed but soft around the edges. Sawamura glances at him, shifting his gaze from where it had been resting against the wall between the detectives and meeting the other's eyes. After a beat of stillness, silence, one corner of his lips quirk upwards.

“That's pretty good advice. I should probably listen to it.”

Tanaka exhales seemingly all the air from his lungs in one long sigh, finally allowing himself to move into a comfortable slouch as his hands seek out the pockets of his uniform. Sugawara can clearly see the Captain's brow twitching once more, but he's always considered himself to be bilingual – entirely fluent in his native tongue, and in the many moods of Sawamura Daichi. There is nothing worrying about this particular expression of, what would seem to be, anger. For his part, of course, Tanaka seems not to notice. It's probably for the best, then, that he has a partner better able to read the Captain's face than anything you stick in front of his nose.

“So,” Tanaka replies, canting his head to the side. “What do we do now?”

Instead of answering, Sugawara glances between the two. If he's being honest with himself, a practice more vital than he'd care to admit, he hadn't quite gotten to that step. He can remember the moment clearly, gently yanking the two interlopers away from the body and back across the cordoning line – then falling silent as they practically tripped over themselves to explain. Faced with the prospect of picking up the perpetrator of that week's crime, he'd decided that would take precedence over the eerily accurate tip from the civilians.

But, though he can feel a tingling thrill of guilt flicker in the pit of his stomach, he also feels the upwelling of trusted relief keep anything else at bay. He might not have been as thorough as he could have, but he's not alone in this. He has his partner and his precinct.

And, at the end of every line, he has his Captain.

“They'll need a story,” Sawamura finally decides, eyes tilting back to the spot on the wall as he thinks. “Something to explain what they did. And some set of approved credentials, or the whole case is going to get thrown out. I'm not putting this precinct, or that conviction, in jeopardy because two idiots can't fix the mess they got themselves into. Detectives.”

Sawamura's gaze is back on them, evenly vacillating between the two. Sugawara feels his attention narrow into sharp focus, and he can practically _feel_ the way Tanaka snaps into formality.

“Whenever you can get them in, I'll need to talk to them. If we can work with them, and their story checks out, we can move forward. Understood?”

“Yes.” As if rehearsed, the two bend forward in unison, heads dipping for a moment before they straighten. Sugawara wonders if he imagines it, that knowing glimmer in Sawamura's gaze that dies as quickly as it kindles. It's not something he remembers learning in his studying of the Captain's way of being. Maybe he _should_ have written that dictionary for himself.

“Alright, you're free to go. – Tanaka.”

Halfway out the door already, the detective freezes in his tracks – literally, one foot suspended in the air, the other bracing all his way even though he's tilted forward. Sugawara has the luxury, with the weight of the Captain's gaze entirely on Tanaka's back, of wondering if the other has some control over physics or gravity.

“You know that you owe Sugawara for taking the heat this time, don't you?”

He doesn't, of course, but Sugawara sees the chill that visible rakes down his spine before he remembers how to move and nods so vigorously that it's an honest miracle he hasn't knocked himself over yet.

“I do,” he replies, words leaving his mouth quick enough to strangle themselves.

“Good. Dismissed.”

It's a credit to Tanaka's resilience that he manages to exit the office with any composure at all, waiting until he's beyond the threshold before taking off in a dead sprint to his desk. Sugawara remains, placing one hand on his hip before turning back to the Captain with a sigh building in his throat and pooling against his lips.

 _Be nice_ , he mouths.

Looking for all the world to be offended and persecuted, the Captain mouths back, _I always am_.

But Sugawara does not miss the delightedly devilish grin spreading across Sawamura's features and lighting up his eyes as the detective turns on his heel, closing the door behind himself with a low, undeniable _click_.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> [find me on tumblr!](http://womeninthesequel.tumblr.com)


End file.
